


Aria

by Kurgy



Category: The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, The Legend of Zelda: The Ocarina of Time
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst and Tragedy, Blood, Canon-Typical Violence, Falling In Love, Friends to Lovers, Good Ganondorf, M/M, Near Death, Ocarina of time elements, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Post-War, Revenge, Temporary Amnesia, Time Skips, temporarily
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-06-12
Updated: 2019-06-18
Packaged: 2020-05-02 00:43:43
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,978
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19188460
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kurgy/pseuds/Kurgy
Summary: Link is born during a great war between the Hylians and Gerudo, his mother fleeing their burning village while he is just 6 months old, his father perishing in the battle just outside their village. She rides on horseback with Link swaddled in her arms. Mortally wounded, she flees into the lost woods, trying to get her son as far away as possible. After so long, she colapses from her horse, laying still in the cold grass as the trees loomed over her and her infant son, hopelessly lost before being found by a lone kokiri girl. The woman pleads with her to take her son into the woods, and protect him from the war. The girl is nervous, never seeing a hylian before, but agrees as she takes the baby from her arms. The woman smiles at her, thanking her before her eyes grow cold and unmoving.The girl brings the baby to the Great Deku Tree, and pleads to let the boy stay here in the forest with them, promising to raise him as their own. The Great Deku Tree senses that this is a child of destiny, and allows the girl to care for him in the safety of the kokiri village.They live together in peace for years until an encounter brings together two fated people.





	1. Mother

She whipped the reigns in her hand, urging her horse to speed up, trying to outrun the flames and screams of battle. Her husband perished in the battle, before the flames overtook the village. All she could do is hold his infant son and flee, but not before she took an arrow to the stomach. She had to go faster, despite the pain and the blood, she had to escape. To protect her son, she woukd do anything, praying to Hylia to give her the strength to save him.

She wasn't sure if she was being followed, she couldn't spare a glance to find out, only ride faster as her son cried in her arm. Tears streamed down her face, trying to hold back the sobs of all she had just lost. She whipped the reigns again, her control wavering as the horse grew panicked, veering off course and galloping forward towards the woods, the lost woods, she couldnt regain control as the horse ran faster, leaping over a fallen tree and barreling into the misty woods no man ever came back from.

Her vision grew hazy as the pain over took her, clutching at the reigns trying to ground herself, but failing. In retrospect it was a small elevation in land, but her horse skidding to a stop was enough to send her hurling forward, her body crashing against the cold ground, the darkness of night only intensified by the blanket of the forest. She tried to stand, her sons cries urging her forward as she got on her knees, one hand planted firmly on the ground while the other held her baby. She shuffled through the brush, not knowing where she was going until the sharp pain in her stomach caused her to collapse, coughing violently as blood filled her mouth, trailing down her chin until she couldn't move at all, only able to cradle her child against her chest and she cooed at him, smiling as he stopped his crying, looking up at her with bright eyes and finally the dawning of her demise loomed over her. She would die here in the forest, leaving her son only, surely to die with her. She began to cry. What could she do? No longer able to feel her legs, she couldn't carry him any further. She had failed him.

Then she heard it, the snap of a twig, the shuffling of leaves, footsteps. With all her remaining strenght she sat up on her elbows, glancing around for the source and soon she saw a child, clad in green, a fairy gently fluttering around her head as she stared at her in wonder. No, this was no ordinary child, this was a child of the forest, a kokiri, she had to be. "P-Please...!" the woman said, trying to reach toward her before collapsing back to the ground, startling the girl. "Please..." she said. "My son..."

The young girl was nervous, but still she stepped forward. Cautiously the girl approached, finally coming to stand a mere few feet away. "Are you alright?" she said, her voice light and concerned, then she saw the blood, clasping her hands over her mouth horrified.

"My son." the woman said. "Please, take him..."

"Why?" the girl asked, scared.

"I...will die very soon." the woman said with battered breath. "I can not protect him, if I die here....so will he. He needs....someone to protect him...so he can live....please." she begged, the girl coming to kneel beside her.

She stared at the woman for a moment with a sad expression, then to her baby, holding out shaking hands before scooping him up in her arms. She cradled him in her small arms, looking back to the woman with tears in her eyes. The woman smiled, her body going lax. "His name....is Link..." she said, caressing her sons face one last time. "Please...take care of him...thank...you..." her hand fell to the ground, her eyes cold and lifeless as the girls tears finally spilled over, falling from her cheeks.

Link began to cry, wailing as the girl rocked him back and forth, trying to shush him as she cried. "I will take care of you." she said. "I will protect you." and with that she stood, memorizing where the womans body now lay, promising to come back to bury her, but for now she must see the Great Deku Tree.

She ran was fast as she could, keeping the swaddled infant close to her chest as she ran, protecting him from the brush and branches. Koroks watched her from the trees, curious of the small creature in her arms, but too scared to approach. She payed them no mind as she continued onward, the large hollowed out tree of their village entrance coming into view. She dashed forward through the dark tunnel, most of her kokiri friends now asleep in bed as she entered the village, no fires or light to be seen. She walked quietly through the village, making her way dosn winding paths before coming upon another large hollowed out tree, the Great Deku Tree's domain just up ahead. She walked through, her breathing laboured after her running, and finally coming to stand in front of their guardian. "Saria." he said upon seeing her. "You should not have left the village so late."

"I'm sorry Great Deku Tree." she said, lowering her head. "I jad a strange feeling in my heart. I had to go, and I found.."

"A hylian woman." he said, his deep voice kept quiet as not to disturb her kin. The Great Deku Tree's face grew soft. "and her child."

Saria began to cry. "She was dying." she sobbed. "Her...baby. She asked me to take her baby. I couldn't leave him there, he would have died! Great Deku Tree I'm sorry I..."

"It is alright, my child." he said softly. "You have done no wrong. However, he is a stranger in this forest, he does not belong here."

Saria was about to object before he spoke again. "But this child is special."

She looked up at him with tear stained face. "He can stay, can't he Great Deku Tree?" she asked, Link now sleeping in her arms.

"Yes my child." he said. "But he is not like you, or any of the kokiri, he is a hylian. He will grow, someday, into a man."

Saria nodded, she had never seen a hylian until today, and knew not of their people and their needs.

"Saria." he continued. "Raising him will be no easy task. None of you have ever faced such a mission. He will grow, and continue to grow, and eventually, he will leave this place. Can you handls it, my child?"

Saria was silent for a moment, before nodding once more. "I made a promise." she said. "That I would protect him. That I would...care for him. I can do it Great Deku Tree."

"My child, so brave, that would take on the role of a mother so dutifully."

"Mother?" Saria asked, unfamiliar with the word.

"Yes." he said. "A mother. One who cares and raises a child as the one you hold in your arms."

"Mother..." she said solemnly. "Then that woman...she was his mother?"

"Yes, my child." the Great Deku Tree said. "Now you take on her role."

"Yes." She responded. "I will take on her role, and raise him in her place." she looked down to the baby in her arms, shifting him in her arms and gazing down at his sleeping face.

"Go now, Saria." the Great Deku Tree said. "Rest, you will have a long day ahead of you." Saria nodded, turning and leaving back through the tunnel, following the path back into the village. She followed the trail to the carved and hollow tree she called her home, brushing past the curtain that acted as a door and head straight for her bed, the soft hay and blankets coaxing her to rest her head. 

She buddled up the blankets, gently laying the sleeping baby in them to keep his head propped up before crawling into bed next to him, pulling him close and sighing. "I will protect you." she said, eyelids heavy. "Goodnight, Link."


	2. Rockabye

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Saria builds Link his own bed, as Mido cares for Link in her place

"S-Saria!" Mido called over the cries of the infant in his arms. "H-He's crying again!"

Saria sighed, exhaustion in her eyes as she worked the wood beneath her hands. She had charged Mido with watching over the young Hylian as she built him his own bed in her house, but Mido had never cared for an infant before, for that matter neither had Saria, but she hoped he could keep him entertained until she had finished carving the wood. "Just rock him Mido!" she called. "I'm almost finished."

It had been a long days work, some of her friends volunteering to help, but as the hours passed most had grown tired, and she didn't blame them. She was tired and sore, and she was sure Link had to be hungry by now. Luckiky she had prepared ahead of time, collecting various herbs and flowers full of the nutrients he babe would need under the guidance of the Deku Tree, and ground them into a powder to be mixed with water. Feeding Link was difficult, he couldn't eat on his own, and required the mixture to be soaked into a cloth and held gently in his mouth for him to naw on. But he was a fussy eater, often taking Saria hours to feed. She was running low on sleep, but she promised to care for the baby, and she would not break her promise.

As she carved at the wood she could hear Link's cries from where Mido sat on the stump close by, Mido growing more flustered until she heard his cries as well. Mido seemed to grow equally upset as Link whenever he cried, Saria couldn't help but find it rather cute. "S-Saria I-I don't know wh-wha to do!" he cried. Saria sighed, setting dosn her tools and looking at her blistered hands. "I'm coming Mido!" she called, turning from her work and walking towards the two as Mido sniffled. She kneeled in front of Link, running her hand through his hair to sooth him. "Are you hungry little one?" she asked as Link sniffled along with Mido. "One moment."

She entered her house, walking up to the counter with a bowl of water and preparing the mixture as the Deku Tree had instructed, taking a small clean clothe and soaking it before wadding it up and walking back outside. "Here." she said, placing it gently in his mouth as he nawed and suckled on it, almost instantly calming down. "There." she sighed. "That should keep him busy for a while."

"You should rest Saria." Mido mumbled, trying to play it cool. "You look exhausted."

"I have to finish." she said. "I don't want to accidentally hurt him in my sleep, he needs his own bed."

Mido sat silently for a moment, before gently handing Link to Saria. She looked at him confused before he puffed out his chest and placed his hands on his hips. "I'll go get Lendo! He's our ace wood carver, he snd I will finish as you get some rest!"

"But Lendo is busy, he can't drop all his work to come help me, and the sun will be setting soon, I don't have time to rest, I have to finish Links-"

"No buts!" Mido said triumphantly. "Lendo will help, you just sit down and relax, besides, Link likes you more than me." and just like that he was off, making a break for Lendo's small workshop across the village.

"Oh, Mido.." Saria sighed, gently rocking Link in her arms. "Well little one, I guess we should get some rest."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hi! thanks for reading! the next couple chapters will be short and explore Link growing up, so im sorry if u dont like short chapters, but we'll get into the good stuff soon

**Author's Note:**

> so first i dont have a beta so sorry for any grammar or spelling mistakes, also sorry 1st chap was so short, but its with purpose i swear. This technically takes place in the botw timeline, with some ocarina of time elements (the kokiri being here, for example) but its still an au. Link is 21, until certain events take place, then he is 121, while Ganondorf is 29, temporarily as well. And once Zelda gets involved, she is 18.  
> this au has been stewing in my head since botw came out, so im finally working on it. anyway, i hope you like it! please leave a comment if youd like to see more!  
> (also, art and other goodies for this au will be posted on my tumblr under the same name if youre into that)


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